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Topic: Beelzebul and Marcan Priority (1 Post)

Message: Beelzebul and Marcan Priority
Posted by [tmoore1008] on Tuesday, 03-Apr-2007 01:49:04 EDT Revised by [tmoore1008] on Friday, 07-Sep-2007 21:36:15 EDT Revised by [tmoore1008] on Saturday, 08-Sep-2007 13:51:40 EDT
Matthew 's use of ἐξίστημι in 12:23 bridges three accounts of Jesus being accused of being possessed by Beelzebul. Is this evidence of Marcan priority? Mark 3:21-22 ...prefaces the accusation (by the scribes) that Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul with an account of his family hearing that he is being called mad [ἐξίστημι]: ἔλεγον γὰρ ὅτι Ἐξέστη (For they said, He is out of his mind [NET]). Matthew 12:23-24 ...prefaces the accusation (by the Pharisees) that Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul with an account of an exorcism at which the crowd was amazed [ἐξίστημι], a different story than Mark, but using the same word: Καὶ ἐξίσταντο πάντες οἱ ὄχλοι (All the crowds were amazed [NET]). Luke 11:14-14 ...prefaces the accusation (by some in the crowd) that Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul with an account of an exorcism at which the crowds marvel [θαυμάζω], the same story as Matthew, but using a different word: καὶ ἐθαύμασαν οἱ ὄχλοι (And the crowds were amazed [NET]). Did Matthew, possibly uncomfortable* with Mark 3:21, rejigger Mark's account, and repurpose—but consciously reuse—Mark's ἐξίστημι? And then did Luke, following Matthew, but not beholden to Mark's ἐξίστημι, refine Matthew's refinement, to θαυμάζω? (*He wouldn't be alone. Metzger1: The original reading of οἱ παρ’ αὐτοῦ [his friends or his relatives] apparently proved so embarrassing that D W al altered it to read, When the scribes and the others had heard about him, they went out to seize him, for they said, He is beside himself. 1. Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed., Mark 3:21.)